Steam for Linux

This weekend there will be a Hungarian Free Open SOurce Conference in Hungary. One of my friend is going to give a lecture about Gaming possibilities on Linux. He introduce native games, wine gaming, etc. Is it allowed to me to present the next big step forward in the Linux gaming era: the Steam to the public audience? If not it is fine for us, but the attendees is very interested in Linux, OS, and gaming too.

I would, just to be safe, make sure offline works, then not connect your computer to the internet at all between your testing and the lecture, if you want to do this. Otherwise, yes, I agree with t.jp.

Did you agree to any type of NDA when you joined beta? Check the TOS. If it does not specifically bar you from showing the client in a public setting then you should be able to show it. You would have agreed to any imposed restrictions upon joining.

How should this not be possible? Valve published the client to everyone on the Internet and therefore you may run it on your computer. If people are watching while you're running the software and talking about its possibilities this doesn't change anything, does it?

I don't agree that using beta software in a presentation is not a good idea. This always depends on what you intend to show. During my studies in computer science this was completely common because we often presented prototypes and were rather interested in showing technological concepts than finished products.

Exactly it doesn't fit at all a Free/Open Software conference if you think about Steam itself.

But if you think that Steam is improving Intel Open Source video card, it will make the Open Source SDL improve and move faster, and make the Linux free and open operating system more popular, so yes, it fits in a Free/Open conference.